Traveling with Mom

/// final step is to clone master post, then delete it, verify slug matches the TOC link on sub-pages, then re-publish WITH EMAIL

/// plan date/time stamps for master post and subposts; we'll need to reset all the date/time stamps when it goes live ; can do them hourly on the same day, then when we’re ready to go live update those dates

Table of Contents

I've traveled many places with Mom, from North America and South America to Europe, Asia, and Antarctica. We've always had great experiences traveling together, but the one trip that stands out the most to me is the five weeks we spent in the spring of 1999 traveling in Cambodia, Nepal, and India.

/// our respective international travel experience

//// Mom and I took a trip together and sent emails (and sometimes faxes, when email was unavailable)

/// planning the trip, buying books, sitting around looking at my fully packed duffel bag days before we left

/// THIS IS OK, BUT KEEP IT BRIEF - THE BAR MINIMUM TO EXPLAIN WHY WE'RE POSTING THIS NOW - I've posted about this trip before, shortly after we got home. The pages that I published on my website at that time were the emails and faxes that I had sent to friends and family almost daily throughout the trip, plus a few of the photos I had taken.

That content was up for a few years, and then I quietly took it down because I found aspects of it embarrassing. But now that I'm too old to be embarrassed, I've decided to re-publish the story. I'm doing this mostly so that Mom and I can reminisce about all the experiences we shared, but others may find it interesting as well.

You may wonder why I found the story embarrassing. In a word, because I came to see myself as being incredibly naive at the time I took that trip. When Mom and I left for Southeast Asia in the spring of 1999, I had only left the United States twice: a day trip of a few hours to Victoria, BC, and a few days in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. But since then, I've visited nearly 30 other countries, and have learned a lot from countless people and experiences in those travels. Observations that seemed insightful to me in 1999 look inane to me now.

/// so ...

/// Doug's history of international travel, Mom's history of international travel; set the stage

/// Mom crossing over the high mountain pass; Mom taking a walk with the drug dealer in Kathmandu; the details of her first trip to be a nurse in rural India

/// Note that in those days we couldn't take digital photos and send them home right away

/// same format for each section: the email/fax, then some current thoughts

/// edit all emails/faxes to remove unnecessary distractions

/// one to a few photos on each day

/// Mom's flurry of travel after Dad's death - how this all started

/// note callouts in the original text, decide what to include

/// Use subjective writing – feelings we were having, flashbacks to Doug/LaVonne interactions on that trip; review the Asia99 content in Desktop folder for ideas. /// convey how naive we were then /// possible ending: the business trip to Bangalore, showing up in the middle of the night and wading out into the chaos and picking a father/son team to drive to hotel, the guy with the sign coming in behind us at the hotel - that behavior is what Mom gave me, that desire to wade right in to unknown circumstances and see what happens